September is National Recovery Month.
The focus of my blogs throughout the month of September will be on addiction and its life destroying tendencies. The writings derive from my own personal experiences of battling addiction and living a life of recovery.
These specific writings are focused on the ACT acronym.
ACT leads to sobriety…
A – Acknowledge you have a problem and you are powerless over it and you need help.
C – Connect with a power greater than you and people who have solutions that will help you conquer your problem.
T – Take positive, recovery-oriented action every day.
We’ve spent 17 days looking at the Acknowledge and Connect stages of ACT. We will close out Recovery Month by looking at the most important stage and that is to Take positive, recovery-oriented action every day.
Today’s post is a continuation of yesterday’s (September 18).
Our drive to Greene Hall Chemical Dependency Center was full of all kinds of emotions.
I wish I could say our “good-byes” were laced with love and happiness, but I can’t. I wasn’t happy and in some ways couldn’t believe they were “doing this to me.” I was also very afraid.
From their standpoint, they were most likely relieved to turn their volatile, dysfunctional piece of dynamite over to someone who may be able to diffuse it.
More importantly by “throwing my butt in the treatment center,” my wife was about to get a much needed break from Crazyville. Over the years my wife and I (gratefully) still joke about the day she “threw my a$$” in the treatment center.
Upon arrival, an intake specialist had me take an assessment. Unlike the first time I took an assessment for my problem, I told the truth, I flunked, and they admitted me immediately.
Being honest during this assessment was a key action step in my road to recovery.
Up to this point, I had created a very distorted view of reality and the truth.
Like most good addicts, we make reality whatever we need it to be and we do the same with the truth.
When the intake nurse said to me, “Mr. Meyer, you have a serious problem but you are in good hands,” the illusion I had created called “my reality,” quickly switched to REAL reality.
I was about to get help for my disorder and things were about to get really REAL.
More to follow tomorrow.
Proverbs 12:22, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.”
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
